


and the goddess wept again

by musesrundeep



Category: Ancient Egyptian Religion
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 03:31:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2797949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesrundeep/pseuds/musesrundeep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another day in the life of the goddess of cats. Bastet has a bad day, but her best friend always knows how to cheer her up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and the goddess wept again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [necrora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/necrora/gifts).



There were few things that angered veterinary technician Brianna Fallon more than an abused cat. Oh, no animal should be abused, of course, but Brianna had -- and always _had_ had -- a special affinity for cats. As the goddess Bastet, she damn well _should_ have had. The day she lost that affinity was the day something went seriously wrong with the goddess.

She was a goddess, of course she was a goddess, but even goddesses wanted to experience the normal of mortal life. And so whenever that happened, Bastet would come to Earth, set up a life, and live it out to the end. She made friends, took lovers, had children. Fought and lived and loved and relished every second of it, even the less enjoyable moments.

Like now, when she was in the exam room with a kitten who’d come in with a small horde of kittens and grown cats rescued from a hoarding situation. Even just looking at the kitten brought out a growl.

“Down, Brianna,” chirped one of the other veterinary assistants. “No going out and maiming. Focus on helping save the kitten.”

Brianna nodded, swallowed, and ran a careful hand along the kitten’s emaciated body. “Bridget’s right, little one,” she murmured. “I should concentrate on saving you. You and all of your friends who came in with you.”

Bridget Inman was Brianna’s co-worker, best friend, and sister-from-another-pantheon, the Celtic goddess Brighid. They drifted in and out of each other’s lives, which made sense given that they were both goddesses with important responsibilities. But every time they came to Earth, to the mortal plane, they were in each other’s lives at some point. Always for a reason, generally for Brighid’s calming influence on her.

She might have been the Celtic goddess of medicine, but Brighid was of the opinion that veterinary medicine qualified -- it had “medicine” right there in the name, after all. The gods -- or at least she and Bastet -- made no distinctions.

“You’ll do just fine,” Bridget said, touching her friend’s arm. “Just concentrate on this kitten, and every other kitten, and all the grown cats. One by one, you’ll help them all.”

Brianna nodded. Bridget was right. She would help them, one by one, whether it was healing them or helping them cross what poetry called the Rainbow Bridge. She of course hoped for healing, but she was a realist. She knew not all could survive.

But most did, to her great relief. She considered that a great victory, to have lost so few feline lives to the pain and trauma that they had come from. But though they had come from pain and suffering, they had gone on with peace and dignity and love, all the things they hadn’t gotten before.

It was good that Brianna’s shift at the shelter was over after she was done helping the cats because it took all of her energy to make it out of the building and to the parking lot. She got in her car, threw her purse on the passenger’s seat, buried her face in her hands, and sobbed.

A moment later -- or maybe more than a moment, she wasn’t sure -- her phone chirped the unique tone that signified a text from Bridget. Wiping away tears, Brianna reached for the phone.

_Pizza and alcohol. My place. Tonight. Don’t argue._

That made Brianna laugh. Her best friend always knew what she needed to make her feel at least a little more like everything was alright.

 

That night, Brianna showed up on Bridget’s doorstep with a bottle of Three Olives’ Loopy vodka and a jug of cheap fruit juice to mix it with. She didn’t much feel like drinking, but it was one of the things they always had when they drank and it would be some kind of a shame not to at least have it there for if they wanted it .

Bridget answered the door and tugged her friend inside. “Pizzas are ordered, should be here soon,” she said. “Oh good, you brought the booze. Excellent -- we ran through my bottle the last time.”

Which had been a time much like this one, but Brianna was trying not to think about it that much.

“Of course I did,” she said with a laugh that was mostly real. “It’s bad form to go to someone’s house and not bring something.”

“That’s if it’s a party,” Bridget corrected as she shut the door. “All the same, I won’t turn it down.”

“You never do.”

Bridget waited until she’d mixed drinks for the both of them and they were sitting on her couch before broaching the subject. “How are you holding up?”

“Alright,” Brianna said with a shrug. “I don’t really have a choice, though, do I?”

“You’re living in the mortal world now,” Bridget said chidingly. “That means you’re governed by their rules, the way they act. And mortals don’t always react the way they should. It’d be perfectly acceptable for you to fall apart and cry right now.”

“I know,” Brianna said after a moment. “I know. Just… not yet. Soon, though. Soon enough.”

The moment of tears came after two drinks and a little prodding from Bridget. She had no problems poking her best friend into releasing her emotions.

“Why does it have to hurt so much?” Brianna whimpered. “Seeing those cats, in such bad shape… why does it have to hurt?”

“Because you’re a cat goddess,” Bridget said, knowing it was a bit of a simplification but also knowing it was accurate enough. “You have a connection to all cats. When they hurt, you hurt.”

Brianna nodded through her sniffles and her tears. “But still… why?”

“Because of that connection,” Bridget said. “You know you wouldn’t want to get rid of it, though. Because you love cats. To you, they aren’t just cats. They’re your children. And no mother likes seeing their children hurt. It makes us hurt inside, makes us hurt with an ache so fierce it’s almost physical.”

She wrapped an arm around her friend, tugging Brianna closer and holding her as the other goddess wept. “It’s going to be alright,” she whispered. “Because you saved most of your children tonight, Bastet. You did good. You did _right_ by them.”

“I did everything I could,” Brianna said, letting out a gasping sob. “But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t _enough_.”

“Sometimes everything a mother has in her power to do is still not enough,” Bridget said gently. “You did what you could for the ones you could do it for, and for the ones you could do nothing for… you saw them to the other side with dignity and respect.”

“I know,” Brianna said with another sniffle. “It still doesn’t feel right, though.”

“Losing a child never feels right,” came the response, and when it came it was as Brighid, not Bridget. There was a subtle difference to her voice, a resonance not usually there.

And Brianna noticed it; she was too wrapped up in her grief to say anything on the matter. But that was only to be expected from the goddess of cats.

Bridget could have said any number of things, made any number of reassurances and promises, but she didn’t. Instead, she just held her and rocked her and was there for her.

And the goddess wept again.


End file.
